Pat Connaughton fired 6.0 shutout innings to lead Notre Dame to a 9-1 win over Cincinnati Friday night at Marge Schott Stadium. The win evens the three-game series at a game apiece and also locks-up the No. 6 seed for the Fighting Irish at next week's Big East Tournament.

Connaughton (3-2) scattered nine hits while striking out four and issuing just two walks while throwing 91 pitches. Connaughton has now pitched 17.0 consecutive scoreless innings in his last three starts. David Hearne and Nick McCarty combined for the final 3.0 innings. The Bearcats scored their lone run in the eighth.

Neither team scored until the Irish cracked the score column in the top of the sixth. Frank DeSico started the inning with a double and then scored a batter later when Zak Kutsulis singled him home. Eric Jagielo and Ryan Bull each collected RBIs in the inning as well.

Trey Mancini continued his hot ways by going 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. Mancini's big hit came in the seventh when he ripped an RBI triple to right centerfield on the Schott Stadium artificial surface. Mancini has collected multiple hits in 15 of his last 17 games. He leads the Big East with a .403 batting average. The first baseman also leads the Irish with seven triples and 52 RBIs.

The Notre Dame baseball team dropped its series-opener 9-5 on Thursday night in Cincinnati. The game is the first of the final Big East Conference set the Fighting Irish will ever play.

Irish starter Adam Norton (9-4) was roughed-up for seven runs (five earned) on 11 hits in six-plus innings on the mound. The Bearcats plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth and then chased Norton with two more runs in the sixth. The 6.0 inning stint marked just the third time in 14 outings this season that Norton has failed to pitch at least 7.0 innings.

Notre Dame first baseman Trey Mancini singled up the middle to open the second inning to extend his career-long hitting streak to 20 games. The Fighting Irish (30-22, 9-13 Big East) collected 11 hits on the night, but stranded seven runners in the loss.

Cincinnati (23-31, 5-17) played an inspired game after learning just hours before first pitch that head coach Brian Cleary will be relieved of his duties at the end of the season. Cleary, a former Notre Dame assistant coach, is 434-528-1 in 17 years as a head coach.

Games two and three of the series will be at 7 p.m. ET Friday night and 4 p.m. Saturday will be televised on CBS Sports network.

The Notre Dame baseball team jumped out to an 11-run lead and then held off a furious Western Michigan rally to beat the Broncos 13-10 Tuesday night in Kalamazoo. The Fighting Irish (30-21) saw Western score eight runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the potential tying run in the on deck circle before the game ended with a strikeout.

Freshman reliever Nick McCarty was charged with all eight Bronco runs on six hits in just a third of an inning before Donnie Hissa came in to record the final two outs to seal the victory. Connor Hale (1-0) earned his first collegiate win after allowing two runs on five hits in 3.0 innings of the planned rotation. Cousins Michael Hearne and David Hearne combined to toss 5.0 scoreless innings of middle relief. Michael threw 3.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts.

The Irish broke a close game open in the top of the fourth with seven runs to take an 8-2 lead. Frank DeSico and Zak Kutsulis each had two RBIs in the inning.

Trey Mancini continued swinging his hot bat in the win. The first baseman was 3-for-5 to extend his career-long hitting streak to 19 games. Mancini homered, doubled, drove-in three runs, and scored three more. He has now logged multiple hits in 13 of his last 14 games to raise his Big East-best batting average to .399.

The Notre Dame baseball team picked-up a 16-7 win over St. John's Sunday afternoon in Queens, NY to avoid a three-game sweep. The win by the Irish (29-21, 9-12 Big East) snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Red Storm (22-31, 9-12).

The losses in the first two games of the weekend series, which came on the heels of Notre Dame's finals week, could be devastating for the Irish. Notre Dame entered the weekend with a No. 31 RPI in the official NCAA rankings, but the two losses to sub-.500 St. John's puts a bigger question mark on their potential at-large NCAA Tournament chances at the end of the month.

Sean Fitzgerald (5-3) earned the win for the Irish after allowing just two runs in 5.0 innings. Dan Slania notched his 12th save of the season with a 4.0 inning outing to close the game.

Trey Mancini was again the star at the plate for Notre Dame. The All-American candidate was 4-for-6 with two runs, an RBI and a double. He was 7-for-14 in the three games with three RBIs (the Irish scored just two total runs in their first two losses in the series). His solo home run accounted for his team's lone run in Saturday's 4-1 loss.

Mancini is batting a team and Big East-best .394 with five home runs and 48 RBIs this season. His hits in all three games extend his career-best hitting streak to 18 games. He has multiple hits in 12 of his last 13 games.